Saddam Hussein's tomb 'destroyed' amid fierce clashes between Iraqi troops and IS in Tikrit

The tomb of Iraq's late despotic ruler Saddam Hussein has been "leveled" amid fierce clashes between Iraqi troops and the Islamic State (IS) in the Iraqi city of Tikrit.

Fighting raged in the north and south of Saddam Hussein's hometown on Sunday as Iraqi forces vowed to reach the centre of Tikrit within 48 hours. A video showed that the support columns that held up the roof were all that remained of Hussein's once-lavish tomb, reported New York Post.

Poster-sized pictures of the late Sunni dictator, which once covered his mausoleum, were nowhere to be seen amid mounds of concrete rubble.

Captain Yasser Nu'ma, an official with the Shiite militias, formerly known as the Popular Mobilization Forces noted that Hussein's mausoleum was one of the areas that the IS militants massed up the most. He added that the militants had planned an ambush for the troops by planting bombs around the palace.

Saddam's body has been buried in the mausoleum in his birthplace, Ouja, since 2007. The structure comprised a marble octagon at the center of which a bed of fresh flowers covered the place where his body was buried. The extravagant chandelier at its centre reminded of the extravagant life Hussein had led, until U.S. forces captured him in 2003.

The IS seized control of Hussein's hometown in June last year.